My Life as an Asthma Mom

We spend A LOT of money at the pharmacy. In fact, I just walk up to the counter, and the pharmacy technician (who knows me and all of my family by name) will see me, turn around and grab my multiple prescriptions out of the bin and ring them up. So, is that a good thing or a bad thing? Should I be a frequent customer? It's kind of like that with my mechanic. Hubby will call, and as soon as they hear his voice, they will say "Which one do you need to bring in? The truck or the van?" Sometimes we trick them and say "Ha!! It's the Jeep this time!!" So, knowing your pharmacy and mechanic well may not be the best thing, because that means you are probably spending WAY too much time and money there. But, having good relationships with them is important, because they help take care of us. They can let you know about generic version, or even coupons that are available. They are also good listeners. I used to spend a lot of time talking with Pharmac...

  All 3 of my kids have had allergy testing when they were younger. Followed by years of allergy shots Before you can do the scratch test (allergy test), you have to stop taking all antihistamines for a week beforehand. My kids are absolutely miserable. Son #1 could only last a couple of days before his hands swelled up and were itching like crazy. Poor guy :(  So we had to postpone doing the testing until Christmastime, when most of the fall allergens had died down. At our doctor's office, Shot Nurse brings in her container of serums which have a sharp plastic tip. She marks the kid's back in 3 rows according to category ( food, plants, animals, etc.) Then she does a quick scratch of the skin in that row. She goes across all three rows, and then the fun starts!!  The kids have to lay still on their stomach for 20 loooooong minutes while the welts develop. Then Shot Nurse measures the welts and gives a report to Asthma Doc.The hardest part is getting the ...

Woman's Day has an article in their September 2013 magazine about "Low Allergen Pets." Hmmmm, I have always heard that there ARE NO LOW ALLERGEN PETS. The article says that " Allergies are often caused by the protein in the pets' skin, saliva and urine, and can be aggravated by dust, pollen and mold that sits on the pet hair ." The article then says that " While no cat or dog is 100% hypoallergenic, some allergists say patients report feeling better with certain breeds. " I can't pull up the article online, so here is a photo of the article.  They recommend a few breeds of cats ( Devon rex, Siberian, Balinese, Javanese, and Oriental Shorthair ) and a few dog breeds ( Poodle, Irish water spaniel, Kerry blue terrier, Bedlington terrier, bichon frise and Portugese water dog. ) I have a family member who swears that her prize winning dog is allergen free. Not true. When I am around it, I start sneezing, my nose stuffs up and...

Perfume can be the most delicious smell in all the world. There are so many scents of perfume-some are REALLY strong, and others you can hardly smell. The problem is that they can also trigger an asthma attack. I've never had any problems with perfume until the last year, since then I've had 3 asthma attacks because of someone's perfume.   I also have a neighbor who suffers asthma attacks from people's perfume. It's always worse when you are stuck in a building ( and unable to discreetly walk out of a piano recital, band concert, dance recital, etc.) This weekend was THE BIG football game. The rivalry around here that everyone waits all year for. There are some pretty funny pranks going on throughout the state that they highlight on the evening news. That's how serious this rivalry is!  Neighbor was at the game and called to say she was having a hard time breathing because of someone's perfume. She was OUTSIDE, in a stadium, and was...

We had a freak storm with high winds that blew rain down the basement stairs, it filled up the stairwell, then flooded the basement.   Woah! It was NOT a fun weekend. We bravely tried to use shop vacs and suck all the water out. After several hours, and about 20 gallons of water later, the carpet was still soaked. It was no longer floating - but it still was sopping wet.   We called a disaster cleanup company, but they wouldn't bring out their water extraction equipment because they were so busy with everyone else that was damaged from the storm.   They only had time to tear out the carpet and the pad. I'm NOT paying someone $1000 to tear out the carpet and the pad. I'll do it myself!!  Hubby and I and the teenagers spent the morning cutting up the carpet and pad into strips and hauling it out. There was so much water still left in the carpet and pad, that there was a small river running out the back of the truck!  Crazy stuff! We use the bas...

ABC News had a great story on TV last night about asthma. Yep, you just say the word asthma and I'm all ears!! I have asthma, as do all 3 of my teenagers (sorry I passed that onto you guys!!) I'm always interested in anything new about asthma. Did you know that 25 million people in the US have asthma ? And 2.5 million have severe asthma ( which can be life threatening ) . One of my sons, Son #2, has severe asthma. He's been hospitalized 8 times and almost stopped breathing twice. Those were scary times!! Sometimes, you can take A LOT of asthma medication, have 5 years worth of allergy shots, and completely change your home to make it allergy and asthma friendly. But you STILL end up in the hospital repeatedly. For some reason, medication doesn't seem to work well on people with severe asthma.They can have repeated asthma attacks and frequently end up in the emergency room or hospitalized (story of my son's life.....poor guy!!!) If you watch the ABC ...

Having young kids is REALLY hard!!!! It seems like my kids were ALWAYS sick when they were little. I used to think " Is this what parenthood is like??!! This stinks big time!! I remember sitting in the Pediatrician's office with Son #1, and asking him " Is it just me? Or does it seem like my son is sick ALL THE TIME??!! If he's not coughing, then he has a fever/rash/is throwing up, etc. Just when he gets over one illness, he's sick again. Pediatrician said, " Well, you can let him get exposed to germs now, or keep him home and he'll miss his whole year of kindergarten." Thanks, that is a comforting thought..... Kids with asthma are always sicker than "normal" kids (aka kids without asthma) because it affects the lungs so much. Those of us with asthma have lungs that are 'hypersensitive and hyper-responsive' ie " the drama queen affect. " When our lungs are exposed to a 'trigger' or an illness, our ...